1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a license management technique, and in particular to a license management system, a license management method, and a client device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, license management techniques are used to prevent unauthenticated use of software. The license management techniques include a technique by which entry of a license file is required at the time of installation of software, as with software for a multi-functional peripheral (MFP) (hereinafter referred to as “MFP software”), and the software becomes usable if the entered license file is one distributed along with the software when a user purchased the software.
Also, there is a technique of distributing a license file and allowing use of software only after a user, when installing the software, connects to a license management server and enters a license number, which is for identifying the corresponding license file and is distributed along with the software, as with software for a personal computer (PC) (hereinafter referred to as “PC software”).
An upgraded version of software is provided in some cases, for additional features or bug fixing. Upgraded versions may be provided in different forms: for example, one with additional features is provided at a cost, and one for bug fixing is provided for free. In the case of provision at a cost, the license is managed such that a new license file or license number is required for installation of the upgraded version. A user obtains the new license file or license number by additionally purchasing the upgraded version of the software.
In addition to the form in which a user actively obtains an upgraded version of the software every time, currently a form of support is also available in which the upgraded version of the software is provided to a user who contractes a support service, as part of the support service. There is a technique by which, in this case, the software that should be provided is distinguished in accordance with the content of a maintenance contract of the user, and the upgraded version of the software is provided only to the user who has a right to be provided therewith (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-118697).
However, in the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-118697, a user needs to enter into a maintenance contract as a precondition for acquiring the upgraded version of the software. At this time, the start date and the end date of the maintenance contract are determined independently of the installation of the software. Since the date when the user installs and starts to use the software is not the start date, a problem arises in that the period of time when the user can acquire the upgraded version of the software is shorter than the period of time defined in the maintenance contract.
To acquire a license file, in the case of a PC software product, a user connects to a license management server at the time of installation and enters a license number provided along with the PC software product. In this case, it can be correctly determined that the date when the license file was issued is the date when the PC software product started to be used. However, in the case of MFP software, the license file is provided along with the MFP software, and accordingly, a problem arises in that the license management server cannot recognize the date when the MFP software actually started to be used.
In particular, if PC software and MFP software are provided to a user under a single maintenance contract, the license management server can recognize only the start date of use of the software based on issue of the license of the PC software. In other words, even if the MFP software started to be used prior to the PC software, the start date of the maintenance contract is set to the date when the PC software started to be used. As a result, the user will actually be under the maintenance contract for a longer period than the term of the maintenance contract managed by the license management server.
Then, another problem arises in that, when an upgraded version of the software is provided, a user who is actually not under the maintenance contract can start to use the upgraded version.